Thursday, March 2, 2017

"For what saith the scripture?"

"For what saith
the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness."

Romans 4:3

Paul was quotingfrom Gen 15:6 in Romans 4:3 when he spoke about
Abraham's righteousness credited to him because of his faith in
God.

At the time of Paul's
writing, the only books in existence were the Old Testament, books
from the four evangelists, and a few from the other apostles.

Recently
I published A.W. Pink's sermon "Christian Fools". Much
like Spurgeon, he courageously and effectively puts his point across
with scripture proofs. Unlike Spurgeon, Pink is at times harsh with
criticism towards his colleagues of the cloth, harsh but honest.

Rev. Pink accused his preacher-brothers, even the Baptists, and Calvinists, of
avoiding Scriptures that clearly speak about the doctrine of the
elect.

It
is true of many preachers today: they know these doctrines are in the
Bible and yet they do not preach or teach their flock. Many pastors
preach only from the New Testament, and therefore their congregation
know little about the Old Testament, about God's character, His mercy
and righteousness, and His Divine grace.

Many scriptures in the New
Testament are directly quoted from the Old Testament. In some easy-to-read translations, and paraphrased renditions, they are not in quotation marks, or by indentation of the text.

Therefore, we must be familiar with the passage, or
have a reference bible to realize that these New Testament quotes are from the Old Testament.

For example, Hebrews 10:38, "the just live by
faith" is a quote from Habakkuk 2:4.

Salvation
by faith alone, or sola fide, is not a New Testament doctrine, or a
Pauline theology, and I think if Paul the Apostle could speak for
himself, he would agree. Justification through faith alone appears
throughout the Old Testament ~ the
covenant of grace.

Christ
quoted frequently from the Old Testament.

It is our responsibility to read all of Scripture. There are many Christians
who believe that the Bible is only the New Testament, and disregard
what God reveals in the Old Testament.